One Perfect Summer by Paige Toon

I am a BIG fan of Paige Toon and had been waiting for 'One Perfect Summer' to be released; I certainly wasn't disappointed!

Like all of Paige's books, it is beautifully written and both the story and characters are well developed, staying with you long after you've finished reading.

The main character Alice falls in love with Joe during a summer spent in Dorset. But this isn't just a holiday romance, this is more than that and they both know it, it's just a shame that no-one else agrees. Despite their parents 'reservations' the two spend a wonderful six weeks together but are then sadly torn apart in a way neither could of imagined. 

Alice goes off to university in Cambridge and tries to mend her broken heart and after a while she finds herself  settling in with new friends, a new job and even a new love interest the privileged Lukas.

Things are looking good for Alice, but deep down she knows part of her heart will always belong to her first love - the question is can she cope with that?

This is an excellent read full of both heartbreak and excitement and Paige writes in such a way that you really feel all of the characters emotions. The book is set over an eight year period meaning that the characters grow up in front of your eyes and you are with them every step of the way, through all of their dilemmas.

My only disappointment with this book was that I didn't want it to end! And I have to say, without giving anything away, I felt it ended quite unexpectedly; meaning I was very pleased to hear that there will be a sequel!

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone - but I will not be lending you my copy, I'm keeping it to read again when the sequel is released!

10/10

I Remember You by Harriet Evans

After reading Harriet Evans' 'The Love of Your Life', I decided to look at another of her books and chose to read 'I Remember You'.

Although I did enjoy this book, in my opinion it wasn't as good as 'The Love of Your Life', and I found it quite slow to get going and overly descriptive in parts.

The story centres around Tessa, a girl in her late 20's who moves back to her childhood town after losing her London job and splitting up with her boyfriend. Her parents have moved away from the town and a big development is threatening the surrounding countryside, but other than that, the perfect English town hasn't changed at all since Tess left for university.

Her best friend is also still in the town, but they have both changed and their history makes things strained between them. Tess has come back to Langford because she has a job as a classics teacher at the esteemed college, which leads to a trip to a very eventful trip to Rome that for Tess and many others, changes everything.
Whilst the characters are well developed and you are able to connect with them, there is also, often sudden changing of perspectives which help to develop the story and in this case shows the symmetry between the characters, I did find it halted the story somewhat.  

I did however enjoy the story and will look at more of Harriet Evans books in the future but that is more down to 'The Love of Your Life'.

6/10